The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Communities Aren't the Only Ones Who Get To Initiate Rezonings

As
CB9 mulls yet another attempt to produce a request to City Planning to
begin a study of our neighborhood (and Southern Crown Heights above it),
I thought it might be helpful to elaborate on a point that I, and many
members of the Board, have made on more than one occasion.

There
seems to be a misunderstanding about why we would initiate such a study
at all, and why the sense of urgency. The idea of a CB9 initiated
collaborative process is not the only way to rezone. Developers do it
all the time. By filing their own application with the City, and paying
for the study and/or environmental review, they can start a "ULURP
clock" themselves. They don't need to wait for us to rezone Empire Blvd -
they could start the process right now (who knows, maybe that's already
someone's plan...it shouldn't surprise us given the location and BP and
Mayor's desires. It would seem like a good bet to me if I wanted to
build some housing over here that I would sail through the ULURP) One
such review is the one that's happening over by the Marcy projects in
the old Pfizer plant:

Needless
to say, the City with its current focus and mandate will undoubtedly
grant the application. The BP, the Mayor and Council will be for it.
Even if the community comes out against it, they won't have the power to
stop it.

The
same can happen on Empire Blvd. I've warned that it probably will. I
for one welcome a unifying, attractive and thoughtful use of the ugly
strip from the Park to Rogers Avenue. Some, as you might have noticed
(!), are dead set against any change of zoning on Empire. What do we get
if WE initiate a process that considers a possible residential zoning on
Empire? We get to look at the WHOLE neighborhood, and consider
contextual zonings that update a 50+ year-old map, protecting much of
our neighborhood from unwanted, oversized development. We've basically been promised as much, particularly for current all-residential blocks. Seems like a reasonable deal to me.

So,
in my judgment, and I am certainly not alone in this conclusion, we
either lead or follow. I don't have any doubt which is the preferable
position to influence outcomes.

For those not to annoyed by the back and forth, thanks again for reading.